


Beyond The Depths

by Outerworldly



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Pirate AU, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-11-14 18:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18058130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Outerworldly/pseuds/Outerworldly
Summary: Down in the depths lays the undiscovered,Down in the depths of the sea, a love calls for me,Down in the depth of the sea, she awaits me,Down by the depths of the sea, she will take me...Lower and lower, we'll goLower and lower she'll take meLower and lower I'll goLower and lower till she shows me that which I've never known before...Show me the beauty of this love so deep and wide as the sea,Show me the beauty of this love so immense,Show me the beauty of this love no sea could ever end,Show me a beauty I've never known before...Down in the depths lays the undiscovered,Down in the depths of the sea, a love calls for me,Down in the depth of the sea, she awaits me,Down by the depths of the sea, she will take me...





	1. Two worlds

**Author's Note:**

> Here's to the birthday boy! I'll try to post the next chapter on the actual day, hope you enjoy!

 

This must have been the sixth time in the last month you visited the same pier. You were told many times as a little guppy to never get too close to the shore, but you were never able to quite help yourself.  
  
Ever since you'd learned to swim past the reef you began to teach yourself how to swim further and further out into the higher areas of sea, until one day without noticing you reached the shoreline. You were still young the first time you remember poking your head out from below the oceans surfaces. Ships, that's what the human's called those vessels in which they traveled the seven sea's, you saw a lot of them the first time you dared get close to where the humans inhabited...  
  
Humans were very curious creatures, you'd learned a great deal from just observing them from afar but there was still so much that remained a mystery to you about them. They were absolutely fascinating, without a doubt... and you still had so many questions that could not be answered by simply watching.  
  
You knew it was dangerous; that's why you only ever visited the same shore area no more than twice, three times at the most... but as you watched him, the blond young man sat on the pier and scribble away in his records. You’d been watching him the six prior times you came to this area and like those past six times, you felt that he could bring you no harm.  
  
Out of all the humans you'd observed he was your favorite, maybe that's what had led you to putt your guard down and going against not only the rules of your home but your own personal ones as well. He was different from all the other seamen you'd seen... pirates.

 

You weren’t naive you knew how dangerous humans could be, why growing up it’s all you’d heard about the infamous land walkers. But you weren’t as naive as to believe all the legends and myths you heard about them, with the only evidence being that of word of mouth. You wanted to, **_you had to find out for yourself._ ** It’d been centuries since your kind had left the safety of your underwater homes and you were the first to go against this.

 

Men especially, you’d been told were dangerous. Your ancestors spoke of those who killed your kind centuries ago… pirates but you also knew of how your kind had claimed many of the lives of their kind as well. You’d seen pirates before, you knew how to spot them miles away… and this young man; He was no pirate, no thief, no killer.

 

On the contrary… he was, he seemed completely fascinating. You liked him. You liked watching him, sometimes he’d sing while he scribbled and you liked the sound of his voice as well.

 

This man who you watched from afar, he was kind even to the creatures of the sea… he sang to them, some had come trust him so much so that they had allowed him to touch them, you were tempted to approach the man as well. Maybe he’d be able to answer your questions…

 

But how were you supposed to approach him?

 

Actually… you’d been planning on approaching him since the third time you’d come around, but you’d always turned back at the last minute. _This was your last chance,_ you told yourself, if you turned back now then you’d never allow yourself this opportunity again, it was too risky to keep doing this.

 

Your hand nervously roamed over the coarse surface of the boulder, looking for somewhere to hold onto as you hid behind it, watching intently as the young man looked up every few seconds before going back to scribbling.

 

He had kind large round eyes, that were the most beautiful color you’d ever seen but what they expressed was so much more beautiful… wonder, hope, but you also saw pain in them. Pain in his eyes and sorrow in the words of the songs he sang.

 

You almost jumped out of your skin when you felt something brush up against you. A small harbor seal nudged against you with its head as if encouraging to touch it, shooting a quick glance at the young man still sitting on the pier you turned to the seal and offered it a small touch of affection.

 

The seal almost happy swam out from behind the rock and looked at you expectantly as if waiting for you to follow its lead. It looked between you and the man and with its eyes almost asked you to follow it as it swam up to the young man.

 

The man must have noticed you as he looked up at it, you hid behind the rock. He didn’t seem to have seen you as he watched closely as the small seal swam up to him. You observed from behind the rock as he patted the top of the seals head with a big smile. The seal allowed him to but pointed him in your direction with its nose.

 

“What is it, buddy? You have another friend over there?” You heard him ask, he stood up slightly looking in your direction and you cowered lower into the water behind the rock.

 

Your heartbeat was beating like crazy… were you nervous to be seen by a human, or were you nervous about potentially meeting him?

 

He began playing with it and after a while, you’d grown comfortable watching them. You don’t know where the time went but despite it being early in the morning, it was evident in the day’s light that time was passing by. After some time the man and the creature had stopped playing, it only swam around the dock in circles as the man sat back with his feet in the water watching it, his voice sang out:

 

**_Cruel and cold, like winds on the sea_ **

**_Will you ever return to me?_ **

**_Hear my voice, sing with the tide_ **

**_My love will never die_ **

 

**_Over waves and deep in the blue_ **

**_I will give up my heart for you_ **

**_Ten long years I'll wait to go by_ **

**_My love will never die_ **

 

You were surprised at how easily he could make such an eerie song sound so sweet. His voice was alluring, so much so that you had stop and ask yourself who was the siren here, him or you? His song was so captivating that you hadn’t noticed how you’d slowly inched out from your hiding spot.

 

_This was your chance…_

 

_It’d be your only chance…_

 

Now or never, and before you knew it you’d gotten close enough that you were in plain view.

 

With your head slightly above water, you watched him curiously.

 

His smile was so pretty. You peaked up your head a little more from below the ocean’s surface… you couldn’t help yourself, almost absentmindedly you sang back:

 

**_Come, my love, be one with the sea_ **

**_Rule with me for eternity_ **

**_Drown all dreams so mercilessly_ **

**_And leave their souls to me_ **

 

**_Play the song you sang long ago_ **

**_And wherever the storm may blow_ **

**_You will find the key to my heart_ **

**_We'll never be apart_ **

 

His eyes quickly looked up at you and there was a moment of agonizing silence, as he stared at you. You didn’t know what to make of his sudden silence and your heart was beating beyond that which you had ever been used to it doing so…

 

_Did he know you were a creature of the sea?_

 

_But your kind was supposed to be nothing more than a myth to the land walkers._

 

You inched back slightly not knowing what else to do, you’d finally gotten him to acknowledge your existence but suddenly you felt like everything had been a horrible idea. You panicked slightly and began to retreat when you heard him respond:

 

**_Wild and strong, you can't be contained_ **

**_Never bound nor ever chained_ **

**_Wounds you caused will never mend_ **

**_And you will never end_ **

 

You stopped were you floated and turned back around to him, your eyes met once again and your voices intertwined on the last verse as you joined into his song…

 

**_Cruel and cold, like winds on the sea_ **

**_Will you ever return to me?_ **

**_Hear my voice, sing with the tide_ **

**_Our love will never die_ **

 

With the last words, almost hypnotically… you swam up closer to him and he inched forward closer to you. Your faces were only inches apart by the time the last word was sung and he looked down at you with wondering eyes and as you looked up at him with curiosity.

 

You couldn’t help the small smile that graced your face as you looked up at him. The both of you were just staring at each other, you expected him to say something but when he didn’t you spoke up.

 

You just hoped that you could still speak coherently in his language.

 

“You have a very pretty voice.” You smiled.

 

He seemed to snap out of whatever trance he’d been on, his face went red and he quickly falls back onto the pier. You laughed slightly at the funny sight.  

 

_What a peculiar human…._

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you, I hope I’m not intruding but I heard your singing and couldn’t help myself.”

 

His mouth remained gap open as he sat back frozen on the pier looking at you.

 

That’s funny you could have sworn you were speaking in his mother tongue, and he wasn’t mute, you’d heard him singing…. **_Was he scared of you?_ ** Your tail was hidden deep under the blue water and you doubted he could see it. In the gleaming of the bright yellow sun, it’s light made the ocean a reflective surface of the sky, making it far from transparent. You tilted your head as you stared at him wondering to yourself but reality seemed to return to him when he snapped out of his trance and quickly sat back up, running a hand down the back of his neck with a nervous laugh.

 

“Oh no! No, not at all. You just caught me off guard. I didn’t think anyone was around this early in the morning, much less listening to me… it’s a little embarrassing.” He admitted averting his eyes in a bashful manner. He looked back at you through the side of his eyes, the pink blush on his face never leaving his cheeks… it was strange you’d never seen a human do that bbefore,you couldn’t help staring and when your eyes lingered on him a bit too long he grew slightly self-conscious. “My name’s Yoosung.” He smiled extending his hand towards you.

 

Confused you stared at it, _did he want you to hold it?_

 

You let your hand reach out from underneath the water and take his. You held his hand in yours, it was warm… You looked up at him and smiled again. “My name is Y/N.” still holding your hand within his, you examined it wondering what he wanted you to do with it. He laughed slightly and pulled it away after a prolonged moment.

 

“That’s a really pretty name.” He replied. “So... Y/N. What are you doing out this early? And around this area, not many people come around here, I’ve been told.”

 

“I like this area.” You admitted. “It’s really quiet and peaceful… away from everything, so I like swimming here for a while.” You paused considering your next words. “Actually I’ve been coming  here for a while now, and I always see you here when I come but I’ve never had the courage to approach you.”

 

“You have?” He sounded so surprised, and you nodded quietly.

 

“I believed fate was just teasing that we’d meet but I suppose it truly did mean for us to meet.” You drew closer to the pier as you spoke. “Well now you know what I do here, so what do you do here? You always have that” You pointed at the sketchbook, now forgotten as it rested next to him on the pier. “What is it?”

 

“Oh this?” He asked picking it up. “This is just my sketchbook… I draw in it. Well, I like to draw all the pretty things I like… and this pier provides a really pretty view so I like to sketch it from different angles or things around here in particular.” He explained.

 

Time quickly flew by as the both of you spoke, sometimes he said things you didn’t understand quite right, things that only another human would probably understand and sometimes you slipped up and would say something he had no way of knowing about but nonetheless it was one of the most interesting conversations you had ever had. You told him about all the different places you’d traveled and he told you about the places he’d been to so far.

 

He thought you to be a sea voyager, which technically wasn’t a lie but apparently, he was one. From what he told you, you knew he was traveling the seven seas along with a group of friends, they were desperately searching for a friend of theirs that had disappeared about two years back.

 

Allegedly, he’d been the leader of their group but he’d withdrawn after something that Yoosung didn’t go into detail about happened and he disappeared one night while out at sea on his own during a trip abroad. Now his best friend believed he could be lost at sea or in danger and pulled the group together to fo look for him, they’d been searching for him for two years but nothing had turned up, yet his friend didn’t give up. They’d started to fear for the worst and when many began to favor the disbanding of the group and giving up the search, a clue finally turned up and because of that clue they had ended up in this part of the world looking for more information as to their leaders' whereabouts.

 

The topic of your conversation with him finally returned to his sketchbook he opened it and showed you some of the images he’d sketched on it… _what peculiarities_ , you’d never seen the likes of some of the things he drew in his sketchbook, some were familiar and some other reminded you of things you could find back home but some were just completely new to you.

 

The both of you must have spent hours like that; him with a foot in the water, while you leaned up against the pier talking back and forth about this and that. It was so pleasant, that you asked yourself why you hadn’t had the courage to approach him any sooner.

 

In the peace of the moment, you suddenly heard the sound of footsteps not too far from where both of you stood… you couldn’t risk others seeing you, you were already risking it just speaking to him, you gently pushed away from the pier, looking off into the distance. _You wanted to see him again…_

 

“So, Yoosung?” You began. “Will you be here tomorrow? I’d like to stay longer but… I think it’s time I start heading back home and I really want to see you again, so what do you say, can I meet you here again tomorrow?”

 

He glanced back up at you quickly, a huge smile graced his face as he nodded excitedly. “I-I… uh, yes!” He answered excitedly. “Yes, I’ll be here tomorrow.”

 

The footsteps were getting closer you had to go now. You spared him one last glance before turning your back to him. “Then I’ll see you then at the same time.” You waved goodbye and dived back under water.

 

 


	2. A Drift in The Current

The first time you remember standing on dry land had been excruciatingly painful, your tail felt like it was engulfed in an intensely hot fire, chunks of your flesh felt like they were melting off your bones… the scorching that engulfed your tail was followed by the sensation of daggers plummeting onto your lower side. You had half expected to see yourself bleeding but when you winced down at your tail it looked perfectly fine, there was no scratch or bruise… yet the pain would not seize. You tried hard to maintain composure, grasping emptily at the sand underneath you… you groaned out in pain as the clump of sand disintegrated within your fist.

 

 **_Why was this happening to you?_ ** You thought to yourself through tears, when the pain became even more unbearable. You had to at least try and calm yourself as you steeled yourself to look back down at your tail… but when you looked down your tail was no longer there… instead, it was replaced by two long limbs, or what the humans liked to call them… legs.

 

You were lost and afraid, without a clue of where you were… you were on a small island, that’s all you knew but how you had gotten there or what you were doing there, you had not a clue.

 

This process was unfamiliar to you and you had no one to ask, you could only wonder if so much pain was normal…

 

After the pain had finally seized, you tried to get up but with the effort you made the pain reawakened striking briefly and causing you to yelp out in pain as you fall onto the sand on both your hands and knees. You muffled your own cries with a single hand and with pain resonating through your new limbs as you attempted once more to walk…

 

~~~~~~

 

“Y/N? Y/N… are you okay?” Yoosung’s voice interrupted.

 

You smiled at him as you floated in the ocean water before him, “Of course, I am, I was just thinking…” You chuckled.

 

“I could tell, you kind of zoned out there didn’t you?” He asked.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you it’s just that sometimes it hard to ignore what comes to mind.”

 

“No- no! It’s fine, I wasn’t complaining I just thought it was funny…” He replied, clearing his throat. “And what were you- Uhm, may I ask what you were thinking of?”

 

“About the first time I set foot on a beach…” You replied truthfully, staring at the sandy land far beyond him.  

 

“Oh, yeah. You really like the ocean a lot don’t you?”

 

You let out a small sigh peering back at the world behind you. “I guess you could say it’s like my home…”

 

“Do you miss it?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Your home.” He clarified.

 

He hadn’t really thought about it but throughout the past few weeks he’d been seeing you, you had always asked him about him; what his life was like, about his home, how he felt, what he liked… but he only now realized that he knew very little about you, this was his first time asking you about your home. He only knew you weren’t from around from this area due to the comment you had made earlier this week about  _eventually having to leave_ … Yet when he asked his question, the look on your face was a forlorn one, you didn’t answer and only kept looking out towards the sea.

 

A small sigh left your lips and when you looked up at him you had the same desolate expression. “I… I don’t know.” You answered. “I lost my memories a few years back, I was still young but I can’t remember anything from before the moment I woke up that night.”

 

“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

 

“Don’t be, these kinds of things happen, and we just have to keep moving forward despite them. Besides had that not happened to me, technically I wouldn’t be here right now, and never would have met you… and that, well that’s something that I would have found truly regretful.” You gazed up at him, basking in his soft features and like many times before that light shade of pink began to spread over his face. For some reason beyond your understanding, you really liked it when his face did that…

 

Sometimes he wondered whether you said things like that just to tease him or whether you were really being honest, and perhaps he was trying hard not to see what you made obvious in order to not let his emotions get the best of him… even now with the butterflies that danced within his stomach telling him how much he had come to like you, he had to remind himself not to get ahead of himself.

 

But he couldn’t help it, he’d only met you not too long ago and he had quickly begun to fall for you, almost as if love at first sight. You were the only one that made him feel heard, visible and understood. Whenever he spoke and whatever it was he spoke you always came back to listen to him… for so long he’d felt as if his words and concerns fall on deaf ears, of course, he had his friends but they never could understand him and then you came along… like a fallen angel you came into his life when he felt the most hopeless and the sweet words, you spoke to him, the way you expressed your view of life… they all filled him with so much hope.

 

He really did like you; he thought of you whenever he was near the ocean and that was often but at one point even when he was nowhere near the ocean or the dock he had met you on his mind was still filled with thoughts of you… if he was lucky sometimes he saw you in his dreams, maybe he was falling hard for someone he had just met and he knew he shouldn’t be especially considering the news he was meaning to tell you.

 

A breeze blew past him playing with his hair as he sat on the dock, it was icy cold and he shivered pulling his coat closer over him. He looked over back at you…  _weren’t you cold in the water?_

 

“Y/N?” He finally spoke up. “I need to talk to you about something important, can you come up here?” He scooted over leaving some space for you on the deck next to him.

 

You hesitantly stared at the spot, unsure of what to do… your tail would only become a pair of legs once on land, could a dock be considered dry land or at least part of it? Even if you managed to get on dry land the transformation of your tail was not an instant one, it happened slowly at the least it’d be at least a few minutes…

 

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” His voice cut into your thoughts.

 

“Nothing, do you mind closing your eyes for me for a few seconds?” You asked.

 

“I- Uh…” He hesitated last time Seven had asked him to close his eyes he had played a trick on him but you weren’t Seven and though you teased him you had never played a trick on him before, he trusted you but was confused as to why you needed him to close his eyes.

 

“Please.” You asked coming closer to the dock.

 

Reluctantly he closed his eyes putting a hand over them as further proof that he had them closed.

 

“Are they closed?” You asked.

 

“Completely.” He answered.

 

You took a deep breath, you and prepared yourself for the pain that would accompany the transformation of your tail, you remember hearing that it never hurt as much as the first time, especially if a siren frequented land but you were out of practice. You had only ever walked on the island of Sirenum scopuli twice and you were concerned the pain would be undeniable.

 

You grabbed a steady hold onto the dock and clumsily climbed up, you flopped onto it on your side hitting your head against the dock’s post.

 

“Are you okay? I heard that, did you hit yourself?” Yoosung asked, facing your direction.

 

“I’m fine! Just keep your eyes closed, please.” You looked down towards your tail as you scooted yourself up until you were sitting up. You looked at it as the ocean water dripped off of it and with a small  **_splish_ ** returned to the ocean itself, that was… peculiar, it had yet to transform.

 

Then you felt it the first instance of pain, like a bolt of lightning the pain struck through your tail and right down the center as if with that strike it were to part your tail into two. You bit down on your lower lip to hold yourself from yelping out, a small groan left your lips and you tried desperately to suppress any sign of agony.

 

You let out a breathy exhale with your nails digging into the docks wood.

 

“Y/N, are you okay? Something sounds wrong.”

 

“No, I’m fine… I- I actually did hurt myself trying to get up here but it’s nothing too bad.” You reassured him. “Please, just keep your eyes closed.” The last sentence came out more pained then you had meant for and you knew immediately Yoosung had picked up on it.

 

“Y/N, are you hiding something from me? Let me see it, it sounds like it hurts.” He insisted as he began to take his hands off his face but you stopped him, gently guiding his hands back to his eyes with your own.

 

“I’m fine real-” Another bolt of pain struck through you, causing you to cry out in pain before you had the chance to finish your sentence. You watched in agony as one tail became two legs… you wanted to cry but suppressed the burning sensation as much as you could.

 

“No, Y/N, let me see.” Yoosung pushed your hands off and opened his eyes, whatever it was that was wrong he had to see it. “If there’s something wrong maybe I can fix it, after all I do specialize in the med-” He needed to see whatever was wrong with you but he nearly jumped off the side of the dock when his eyes met you.

 

Before he slipped off the edge you grabbed hold of his coat’s collar and pulled him back towards you with so much force that he nearly toppled over you. His forehead nearly clunked into yours, with your faces only centimeters apart, the only thing keeping him from smacking face first into you was his iron lock grip on the dock post behind you.

 

Thefamiliarr shade of pink returned to his face this time in a more reddish tint, you looked into his eyes… theytrulyy were the most beautiful set of eyes you’d ever seen and as you sat on the dock nearly vertically with him over you it is that you realized that this was the first time you had ever had him this close to you. Your breathing became steady the more you looked into his eyes, and the pain you had once felt had suddenly dissapeared withouta trace.

 

Slowly you released your clutch on his collar, your eyes never leaving his and his never leaving yours. Why was it that you had the urging impulse to touch him… a gentle touch that’d trace over the side of his face and other areas. With as close as he was you realized just how good looking he really was, it wasn’t just his eyes and his skin but the features which adorned his face an almost angelic way. Everything from his ears, to his nose… to his lips.

 

Your eyes lingered on his lips, you wanted to run your fingers over his, to know how soft they really were, to feel them for yourself. True, this was a newfound curiosity the moment had enticed you with but this curiosity was unlike any other and a driving force within your heart plead you’d find the answer. You observed as his adam’s apple shifted behind the collar of his blouse. His eyes, they were usually so easy to read but at this moment they only told you untelligable things that you could not understand.

 

“You, you have very beautiful eyes, Yoosung Kim.” You finally stated bringing your face that much closer, noses barely touching you could feel his warm breath fanning your upper lip. When he didn’t say anything as if he were frozen in place you gave him a small smile and brought your hand up his arm gently.

 

As of magic he finally broke out of the trance, he nearly yelped as he put distance between the both of you. He was sure that if he looked down onto the ocean to sea his reflection he would find that his face had become as red as Seven’s hair, he quickly averted his eyes from you and spewled out what sounded like a hasty apology.

 

He couldn’t look you in the eyes, not in the state you were currently in and espeacilly not after what had just happened. A part of him felt dirty as if he had taken advantage of you in some way and all he wanted to do was burry himself many feet under ground. What would you think of him? He basically felt like some sort of pervert. You had warned him, you had asked him not to open his eyes and he had, now he was afraid that you’d be angry at him for looking.

 

_Ugh, Seven or Zen found out about this they’d never let him live it down…._

 

“Yoosung?” You asked scooting up closer to him,  _what was with his reaction?_   _Had you done something wrong?_ Carefully you placed a hand on his arm once again. “Yoosung?” 

 

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I swear I didn’t mean to see you naked! I was just concerned you might have gotten hurt, please forgive me!” His hands flew over his face, though he wasn’t really sure whether it was to shield his eyes or his embaressment.  

 

“What are you talking about?” You asked once again. “What do I have to forgive you for?” You asked.

 

“For looking at you when you asked me not too!”

 

“It’s fine, you can look at me now… I’m okay now.”

 

“What!?” He nearly yelled out. “No, Y/N! It’s really not fine,  **_you're naked_ **. Doesn’t it bother you that I looked at you without your permission.”

 

 _So, that’s what this was all about, why you had almost forgotten that_ _humans wore clothes and that they considered it unappropriate to be seen or see someone else without it._  However, you weren’t bothered by Yoosung seeing you like this, after all this was your natrual state… well only partially, the other half needed to be a tail.

 

“Well, you have my permission now.” You answered.

 

“Please, stop teasing me. I promise I learned my lesson.”

 

“Yoosung-”

 

“Where are your clothes? I’ll go look for them.” He asked making haste as he attempted to get up, his hands shielding his eyes from you.

 

“Yoosung, don’t worry about that.” You replied yanking him back down.

 

“Y/N!” He yelped as you pulled him back down next to you. “D-doesn’t it bother you?”

 

“No.” You replied truthfully. “Besides I like it and why would I need them to swim?” You asked. “They’ll only weigh me down.”

 

“Oh my god.” He quickly clasped a hand over his face. Only peeking directly into your eyes from an open spot between his fingers as he spoke to you. “I-I  mean that’s true, but nevermind, I’ll go get them for you where did you leave them?” You watched as he jumped off his seat and quickly surveyed the nearby area with his eyes, trying all too hard to avoid you.

 

“Relax, it’s fine. I don’t mind being like this. I like it.” You answered looking up at him.

 

“I’m glad your not bothered by it, and far be it from me to tell you what to do but it’s really not safe for a young woman like you to be in this state all by yourself in an area like this where any man can see you… It was true you were concerned that a man should see you but not for the reason he thought. He turned away from you a hand still clasped over his eyes. “there’s a lot of weirdos out there you should be more careful.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’m safe, nothing’s happened to me before and it won’t ever.” You meant to say it confidently but the truth was you were only partially convinced about your claim, honestly, you knew very well how much you were risking your skin by exposing yourself to the extent you were. “Besides I’m not alone right now, you’re here with me.” You smiled.

 

“I’m glad you trust me but I’m…” He looked flustered as he stuttered over his words in a clumsy attempt to answer firmly. “I’m- I’m a man as well and-”

 

“Does that mean that I am in danger within your presence?” You cut in, quirking a brow.

 

“N-No! I would never hurt you or try anything funny it’s just that-” You clasped your hand around his and gently pulled him back down.

 

“I know you won’t.” A wicked feeling overcame you as you watched him nervously fumble over his words, something that told you that you liked it and you wanted to see more. You gently pried his hand off his eyes and drew closer to him until you were just as close to him as you had once been. “You’re not like the other men of the sea I’ve seen; you’re kind and gentle, and noble-hearted.”

 

His heart was basically jumping out of his chest, he could feel the pulse on his neck skyrocketing the closer you came to him, he was trying hard to fix his eyes upon anything that wasn’t you. Your words were coming closer and closer until he felt them almost fanning upon his neck.

 

_He prayed Seven and Zen never found out about this._

 

There was only so much he could avoid your gaze before he seemed rude, your eyes finally managed to meet him and he could feel himself melt under them. He focused all his attention on one of the many drops of water that adorned your hair like stars on a sky, the drop gleamed with the sunlight and as another breeze blew the drop dripped down onto the side of your face leaving a small trail as it continued until it dripped off your chin and down your neck. The lower the drop trailed the more he felt himself internally panic, the drop continued until it traveled down to your collarbone, he wanted to look away but his eyes remained on the drop until continued to travel down and onto your chest.

 

“Do I?” Your voice asked, pulling his attention away from the drop. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”

 

“W-What?! N-No… no you don’t.” He answered quickly, it wasn’t that he was uncomfortable or disturbed, but flustered? Completely.

 

“You won’t look at me.” You responded.

 

“I-It’s j-just that, it’s just that you’re- you’re-” He couldn’t continue any longer like this. He quickly ripped his coat off and leaned in closer to you, You were slightly surprised by his sudden movement but a small smile spread over your face when you felt him wrap his coat over your shoulders. “Here, you’d catch a cold like that.” He sighed out.

 

His face was still red and he still avoided your gaze but at least he’d quit shielding his eyes and turning away from you, he sat facing you and he took a deep breath. “Y-You were hurt, weren’t you?” He quietly asked.

 

“I- I’m fine now.” You answered gently pulling his coat tighter over you, it still had his warmth and very lightly his scent. You liked it, just like everything else about him.“Thank you.” You scooted up closer to him and placed a small kiss on his cheek.

 

He finally looked up at you, gently placing a hand on the area your lips had graced. “N-No… it’s nothing.” He cleared his throat. “I- I just… uhm, what area did you hurt getting up here?” He asked once again.

 

Your eyes never left his face…. “My, my leg.” You confessed.

 

“May I?”

 

You allowed him your legs, shifting them to him and you observed as he quietly examined your legs. It was almost instantly that the atmosphere had changed. He’d been extremely flustered and nervous one moment and while he still was, he was doing a better job at repressing it now as his fingers trailed down your calves examining them.

 

“They’re very red and look kind of swollen, but aside from there’s no sign of cuts or bruises.” He stated. “Are you used to spending a lot of time in water?” He asked.

 

“Yes, but that has nothing to do with my legs.” You lied. The more he quietly examined your legs the more nervous you grew,  _what if he found out what you truly were?_ “Yoosung, I swear I’m fine. Besides, didn’t you have something important you wanted to tell me?”

 

 _Shit!_ He’d almost forgotten!

 

And with that he completely forgot about your legs. He shifted in his spot and suddenly he had a crestfallen look on his face.

 

“Yoosung, are you okay? Is something wrong?”

 

“No, it’s just that you’re right, I do have something important I wanted to tell you.” His voice came out very quietly.

 

“And what is it?”

 

“Turns out there’s nothing to find about V here… Jumin wants us to pack up ship and set sail tomorrow first thing in the morning. We’ll be leaving and I will too.” He confessed. “That’s what I wanted to tell you; that I’m leaving.” Again his eyes were averted from yours but not for the same reason he’d done so earlier.

 

The words hit you like a ton of concrete, of course, it’s wasn’t like you were tied down to this place and if you really wanted to you could follow his ship without trouble the only problem was how you would justify suddenly appearing in the next and same port as him.

 

“Oh…” You didn’t mean to sound as dejected as you did but you couldn’t help it.

 

“There’s more to it… I feel like I owe you something if an explanation, after all, you've become a very dear friend to me and I cherish you…” He stopped himself.  “your friendship with all my heart. Naturally, we were to spend a few months here but Vanderwood and Zen heard a rumor going around the town, and he claims that we might be in danger if we don't leave immediately.”

 

“In danger, Why?” Your concern for him grew.

 

“Apparently a few months before we came here there was a ship sailing around the ports, with a black flag raised but not one with a skull,  **_one with a mint colored eye_ **on it. Many people disappeared during the time it was here and many ships that sought to enter were sunk by it, we were told they don’t allow others to get anywhere near the ports when they are here.” He swallowed thickly. “No survivor has come out of one of their attacks. Two days ago the pub owner down the street told Vanderwood that he saw a white-haired young man, one that people believe to be associated with that ship following Seven. Jumin and Vanderwood believe that we might be being targeted.”

 

You felt speechless at the confession and all you could manage was to ask; “What about V, weren’t you guys sure you’d find something leading to his whereabouts here?”

 

“We did and it wasn’t much, we only stayed hoping we’d manage to find something more but by now it seems pretty conclusive that we aren’t going to find much more about him. We’re leaving tomorrow morning with only that single clue to guide us. I just wanted to tell you before we left, the crew didn’t want me to come they thought it’d be too dangerous but I needed and wanted to see you one last time, so I snuck out the back port window.” He chuckled sadly. “I’m hoping this won’t be my last time seeing you though.” He paused, he took a deep breath as he thought for a while. “I was hoping… I was hoping that you’d come by the port tonight so I could properly give you a goodbye.”

 

His eyes met yours and they didn’t falter like they had many times earlier,  this time when he stared up at you it was with conviction as if he truly didn’t want to believe this was the last time he’d get to see you.

 

“I just think that saying goodbye this early is too early… I don’t want to let go of you until I absolutely have to.” He confessed. “So will you meet me at the port tonight?”

 

 _To walk on land, as a human?_ That almost felt impossible, maybe… maybe this was a sign that you should tell him the truth about who you really were but you couldn't help to hesitate at the idea; many insecurities and doubts flooded your mind as you considered his requests. Now it was you who averted your eyes and attempt to hide your doubt.

 

“Please.” He asked bringing your attention back to him as his hand gently guided your face to face him once again.

 

 _To walk on land, a siren was never meant… to walk as a human, could you truly manage?_  Yes, it felt impossible but as the both of you gazed into each other’s eyes you believed that for him even the impossible you could make possible. You nodded slowly and a smile graced his face.

 

“Thank you.”

  
You had your doubts, and the concern on your mind begged;  _should you tell him the truth?_  


	3. Moonlight Revelation

You’d had a whole day to think it through but even now as you floated in the water’s of the port only feet away from the ship you knew Yoosung to be on you were still debating whether you should reveal to him the truth about yourself.

 

It’d been on your mind all day and now with the moon’s light dancing upon the ocean’s surface, you still had yet to make your choice. He was so close and the time was now, you wondered whether he was thinking of you as much as you were thinking of him… 

 

You watched the ship from a small distance, hiding behind the safety of a stray boulder. Most of the lights onboard were out and the deck seemed too lifeless for anyone to be on it, you doubted that anyone but him was aboard at the moment. You were shaking in place but not because it was cold but because you were nervous. 

 

You knew you could trust him to bring you no harm… but what if after you told him he no longer wanted anything to do with you? You didn’t want to risk it, yet if he knew you’d be able to follow him without having to hide. You truly felt like you were at a crossroads, the future depended on whatever happened here, tonight. 

 

You looked at the wet cloth in your hands, a dress you had found the first time you walked on the abandoned and forbidden island of  Sirenum scopuli. You had never thought you’d have need for it and though you could have discarded of it at any moment, you’d taken a liking to the curiosity so much that you could not bear to part with. Instead, you resolved to hide it in a broken crate under a bush and now the time had finally come for you to make use of it. 

 

It was a simple dress, not like the ones that human women wore as it did not have the several layers, ruffles, and frills that you had noted their dresses to have. Rather it was more like a simple slip with a faded pattern of blue flowers that adorned the yellowing white. How long had the dress lay discarded on the island before you found it, you knew not but it was obvious the sun had done it’s damage to the colors. Yet, as damaged as it was you still found it a pretty wear. The dress, however, was soaking wet from your journey back and forth, you’d have to make an excuse about it and hope Yoosung did not ask too many questions regarding it. 

 

_ He must be waiting for me… _

 

You didn’t want to keep him waiting, you took a deep breath and visually surveyed around the port for a secluded area in which you could climb out with the reassurance of not being watched. There was a creak at one of the port’s windows and you looked up to it. 

 

**_Yoosung…_ **

 

He was looking out the window and up to the stars... for a moment with the moonlight cast over him; he really did appear to be a heavenly visage. You couldn’t help the sigh that caught at your throat as you gazed up at him, he really was such a good person and for an instance, you almost felt guilty at the thought of keeping up a lie to him… 

 

He’d once mentioned how much he disliked secrets, the way he spoke of how his friend was keeping something from him really did drive home the point. Yet, here you were willing to keep one from him in order to remain on his good graces… you felt selfish and guilty… 

 

You looked back up at him and watched as he sighed turning away from the window. 

 

_ He was waiting for you…  _

 

You cowerer back into the water at the sensation of your own uncertainty, the truth was that no matter what you just could find the best choice to solve your dilemma. 

 

You managed to find a safe spot to transform and were halfway up to it when a loud bellowing sound exploded through the night’s air breaking the peaceful atmosphere, the sound was accompanied with the ripples the ocean water created at the sound, you quickly turned around in the direction of the sound and an enormous uncontrolled fiery light engulfed the ports… **_a fire, it was a fire._** A dark grey smoke shortly followed the fire, filling the sky with an ashy grey cloud of smoke. 

 

Something had exploded… 

 

You were too slow to react, maybe because a part of you was trying deny what had just happened while the other sought to fully digest it, both to no avail; because you were fully aware that what had just happened had happened but unable to fully process it. 

 

When your mind had finished connecting the final dot there was only one person on your mind… Yoosung. The explosion had occurred in the same direction of where he was. 

 

You quickly dove back deep into the ocean swimming as fast you could towards the area in which his ship was located. The closer you got the more debris and stray ship parts floated or sunk around you, the water was becoming unbearable to breathe in as you came closer. Without thinking twice you swam back to the surface surveying the surrounding area… the ship, the ship Yoosung had been on, it was blown to smithereens. A roaring uncontrollable fire raged where the ship had once been docked at. 

 

**You panicked.** He had to be okay, he just had to, you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself something had happened to him. 

 

Quickly you took off swimming around and through the area of the fire, you threw and pushed stray items out of your way as you searched for him through the water. You body shook as you called out for him in desperate pleas. 

 

It felt like the world had purposely slowed down for this singular hellish moment, in an attempt to torment you. The crackling of the fire and the sound of chaos around you fall on deaf ears, all you could hear was the racing of your own heartbeat as you looked around over and over in a frenzied panic.  The world spun around you and thoughts of the worse possible truth made you sick. 

 

Your mind was going haywire and you felt like you’d go mad if you couldn’t locate him in the next several seconds… all you could think clearly was;  _ Why did I take my time? Why didn’t I go to him any sooner?  _

 

You wanted to cry out but at the same time, your voice was caught in your throat like a silencing lump. 

 

Then out of the corner of your eye, you saw something in the distance…. 

 

Bubbles and ripples formed at the surface of the ocean further on out in the distance, desperate to cling onto any hope you didn’t waste a moment and plummeted deep down, swimming to it as if your very life depended on it.  

 

There was hardly any light, any human would have had trouble seeing in the kind of lighting you were navigating under but lucky for you all you needed was the moonlight to see… and then you saw him. 

 

**_Yoosung!_ ** Your heart nearly cried out as you continued to race towards him. 

 

He was tangled up and restrained from breaking free by a bunch of rope that had caught on an underwater boulder constricting him to it. He weakly struggled and it was obvious that he was losing consciousness. 

 

**_He needed air!_ **

 

You quickly raced to the surface taking a mouthful of air and hastily swam back to him, he had to stay with you if he couldn’t then breaking him free would be useless… you didn’t even want to think about it. 

 

His eyes were half-lidded, his trashing had seized not too long ago and you were aware he was losing his consciousness more and more. You swam up in front of him but were unsure of whether he actually could recognize you under his current circumstances, nonetheless, you gently cupped his cheeks in your hand and brought your lips to his in a swift and quick fluid motion. **_Now_** **_was_** **_not_** **_the_** **_time_** **_for_** **_hesitance_**. You gave him every bit of oxygen you had taken from beyond the surface and though you suspected he was half unconscious his lips greedily ravaged yours as he attempted to take in every bit of what you were willing to give him. 

 

You reluctantly pulled away, looking up at him to make sure your attempt had produced some type of fruit but alas, it seemed like your effort had been in vain his eyes were closing just as fast as they had been before, his movement seized all together and you panicked to rip and shred at the ropes confiding him to an underwater grave. 

 

Simply tugging at the constrictions did not free him, quite the contrary they only seemed to tighten further. **_Your_** **_nails_** , you looked at them and retracted the predatory claws that your ancestors had once used to rip the flesh off of human bones. Swiftly you cut at the ropes around his legs and neck… how on earth had he ended up this tangles up? Finally, you freed him. You attempt to swim full speed towards the surface, to get him some air but was forcefully jolted backward as you took notice of one last rope tied around his shoulder/arm area. You cut at it and continued swimming. 

  
  
  


~~~~~~~

  
  


The stars gleamed above you like tiny emeralds, but who could look at the stars at a moment like this? 

 

You might be strong but by the time you had successfully reached the island of Sirenum Scopuli you were tired and out of breath, you fall back on the wet sandy shore struggling to keep your breathing calm and steady and dropping Yoosung down on the sand next to you. 

 

You could not recall ever swimming that fast before, it felt like you’d never reach the island with every second that passed you felt like you could not swim fast enough to reach but now your tail lay sore and numb on the sand from over-exhaustion... yet, you had no time to contemplate such things when there was a dying man beside you. 

 

You rolled over, facing an unconscious Yoosung and panic rekindled the spark of your emotions hurriedly you threw off his drenching wet coat and ripped through the soaking blouse he wore down the center. Quickly you check for his heartbeat… 

 

And there it was, very faintly but it was still there. You wouldn’t have much time at this rate, you had to get all the water out of his system before it was too late. You propped yourself up next to him and began to push down on his abdomen trying to get all the water out of him. After a few tries, you stopped and listened for his heartbeat, nothing. Again. Nothing, Again. Nothing. Quickly, you aligned his head to a more favorable position and brought your lips to his once more, then repeated the process over and over. 

 

You didn’t know how much time passed by before Yoosung began to cough up water, panicked he jolted up continuing to spew out sea water. He was dazed and completely lost you could almost assure that he had no clue of what had happened or what he was doing here, with you…  

 

He was speaking quickly in a panicked state, his words were incoherent and you had to hold him in your arms to ground him back into reality.  

 

“Yoosung, calm down. It’s okay, it’s all over now, you’re okay. It’s over, you’re safe.” His body was quivering in your arms; from the cold, from his emotions or maybe both. He remained your arms not pushing or pulling away, his breathing slowly became more steady and his voice quietly asked. 

 

“Am I dead?” 

 

“No, thankfully you are alive.” You responded holding him tightly. “I was terrified that something had happened to you. What happened?” 

 

“I... don’t know. I heard an explosion, and the ship rocked so hard it knocked me over, then I saw flames…. A lot of them, blowing quickly in my direction and I ducked behind a crate.” He explained. “That’s all I remember. W-what- Where am I?” he asked looking around at his unfamiliar environment. “Y/N, what are you doing here? Where’s everybody else? D-did you save me?” He asked. 

 

“I- I was on my way to go see you when I saw and heard the explosion, I panicked thinking you could have still been on board and searched in the water for you…. You were tangled to a boulder a few feet underwater when I found you. I couldn’t take you back to the port’s docks… for uhm… for…” You hesitated, looking down at your tail hoping that his gaze would follow the direction of yours and see for himself what you didn’t have the courage to tell him in words, but it seemed to go over his head as he continued to stare up at your face waiting for an answer. When he failed to catch on, you sighed out. “For uh… personal reasons.” 

 

He seemed so confused and you knew you weren’t making things any easier for him by being so vague but you couldn’t help it, you yourself were dealing with a mix of complicated emotions; on one hand he’d realize it sooner than late and on the other hand you still hadn’t made up your mind that this was what you wanted. Though you no longer had any say in the matter, it was too late to turn back now as you lay on the sand tail exposed waiting for him to eventually see it and there was no way you’d be able to hide it now. 

 

“What perso-” He attempted to shift within your arms but clumsily faltered backward when he realized that you were wearing nothing on your upper half, though this time when he faltered backward his arm failed to support him and he felt a sharp pain over both his shoulder and arm. “Ahh!” He cried out.” 

 

“Yoosung!” You cried out, trying to help him back up. “Oh my stars, are you hurt?” You asked leaning over his side examining his shoulder which he clutched in a tight grip. 

 

“I’m fine.” He tried to lie but his voice betrayed him as he attempted to sit back up. You helped him allowing him to lean on you until he was completely upright. 

 

“Y/N, how did-” His voice came to a halt and his eyes were steadily fixed on your tail. Finally, there was no more hiding. 

 

“Y-Yoosung?” You asked quietly.

 

"So I'm not dead?" He asked once more, eyes still fixated on your tail.    
  
"No." You replied truthfully.    
  
"Am I dreaming?"    
  
"No."    
  
"D-Did Seven out you up to this?" He asked rubbing both his eyes, then blinking them wide and shut.    
  
You'd only heard mention of Yoosung's friend never met him and didn't know where he got the idea that you could possibly know him. "No." You answered again.    
  
"This has to be one of his many pranks." He muttered to himself but then looked back up at your tail. His eyes remained on your there, and he laughed slightly. "I must have bumped my head pretty hard."    
  
"Not that I know of... Yoosung. Listen, I know this is all pretty hard to understand but please don't freak out." You cautiously reached for his hand, afraid that he'd pull it away in either fear or disgust. Surprisingly, he allowed you to hold it   
  
"I- I don't understand..."    
  
"I can explain." You reassured. "But before I can you have to believe what you're seeing. May I?" You asked giving his hand a small squeeze. He was reluctant but nodded regardless. Slowly, so that if he wanted back out any moment he could retrieve his hand, you took it and gently guided it over your tail allowing his fingertips to trace over the scales. "This is the real me, Yoosung." You confessed with a sigh. "I'm sorry, I didn't tell you any sooner, I was afraid. Afraid you wouldn't want anything to do with me if you found out, but I felt so guilty about it and I was debating about whether I should tell you or not tonight and then everything happened and I- I didn't get the chance to-"    
  
"Y/N." Yoosung's voice cut through your rambling. "I- Thank you. Thank you for saving my life." He leaned in closer placing a small kiss on your cheek and you felt yourself heat up immediately, this wasn't exactly the reaction you had expected. You placed a hand over the area his lips had skimmed.    
  
"It doesn't bother you that I'm a-"    
  
He cut you off. "If it hadn't been for you tonight I wouldn't be here right now. Y/N, you must really be an angel..."    
  
His words were so pretty, too kind. It didn't make sense, this is what you wanted but not what you had expected... it was all too good to be true, any other human would have tried to skewer you alive the moment the realized what you were and yet here Yoosung stood seemingly completely okay with it.    
  
"Yoosung, look at me... do you realize what I am?" You asked. "My ancestors were creatures of the sea that ate men alive, how can y-"    
  
"That may be true, but this is you and you're not them. You're clearly different."    
  
You weren't used to this, ever since you could remember you'd been on your own so this type of kindness was not something you were used to and from what you knew of humans and their past with your kind, no good could result from mixing the two.    
  
You looked away not knowing what else to say or do, what now? Was all you could ask yourself, you had spent so much time worrying and bracing yourself for his reproach that you'd never began to consider the fact that he'd accept you so easily. Not to add that this was your first time being so vulnerable with someone.    
  
"Y/N." Yoosung's voice asked. "You don't have to hide in front of me. I promise you, you don't have to worry about whether I'll waver..."    
  
You looked him in the eyes and in that instance it felt as if his eyes reflected a mutual emotion. Suddenly, you became very aware of how close the two of you really were and for some reason, you wanted to close the space up further.   
  
There was no talking, just comfortable silence as the both of you basked in one another's company under the peace of the sparkling night stars for no words were necessary. You'd always liked his eyes; the color, the shape, what they expressed, they were entirely hypnotic. His eyes spoke countless things which his voice could not, and you found yourself being lured closer and closer to him by their wish.    
  
Like a gravitational pull that drew you guys together the two of you inched closer to one another, your noses were touching and both kept going closer and closer.    
  
His hand went to the side of your face in an attempt to brush a stay strand of hair behind your ear but instead, a jolting pain shot at the muscles and joints on his shoulder making him cry out in pain.    
  
The moment left completely behind, you reached out trying to steady him from falling over. "Tell me how much it and where it hurts."    
  
He muttered out a strained, "all over my shoulder."    
  
"I can fix it." You replied. "It’s gonna feel weird but I need you to trust me and do as I instruct if you want me to stop or feel too weird about it just tell me to stop and I will."    
  
He only nodded. Slowly you guided him to lay on the sand and he did without restraint. You looked at the ruined blouse he wore, you’d ripped it right down the center in a moment of panic and now the buttons were completely ruined. Taking a deep breath you swallowed thickly and tried your best to push any inappropriate thought out of your mind as you pushed the blouse off the afflicted area. There wasn’t any bleeding or scratches but it was red and somewhat swollen, you gandered a guess that he either got hurt in the explosion or when you had tried to free him but as far as you knew there weren’t any broken bones. 

 

Your fingers lightly skimmed over the area testing his tolerance to pain. He was biting into his lower lip as his eyes followed the motion of your fingers. You focused on the area, trying to ignore it was Yoosung who you were going to heal and how he might react and leaned down next to him, your face only centimeters away from his injury. In a slow featherlike motion, you skimmed your lips over the skin of his shoulder. You continued until you got to his clavicle and continued to trail your lips up the length of his neck for good measure. 

 

_ What he was thinking? _ You didn’t have a clue but you noted how the pulse on his neck was beating at a much more rapid pace than could be considered normal, how his body went as stiff as a board and how a familiar pink coated his neck and chest. 

 

“Y-Y/N.” He finally managed to stutter out, his voice coming out in a breathy whisper. “W-what are you doing?” 

 

You paused between kisses not looking up at him. “I’m-”  **_Kiss._ ** “Healing-” **_Kiss._ ** “You.” **_Kiss._ ** “Do you want me to-”  **_Kiss._ ** “Stop?” 

 

“I-Is that really going to work?” 

 

“A kiss of a mermaid has the property to heal, though only if she wills it.” You replied, placing another kiss on the crook of his neck. 

 

Your warm breath tickled his neck as you spoke to him, should he be feeling this way? He felt guilty for all the thoughts he was attempting to fend off from entering his mind. He’d never been like this with someone else and he was afraid his body would react against his will… Honestly, he didn’t want you to stop for more reasons beyond that of the healing properties your kisses would bring. A part of him felt guilty once again, he was enjoying this much more than you probably intended him to but everything about this situation felt like it was straight out of a poet’s sonnet dedicated to his lover. The atmosphere between the two of you had already changed so many times in only a matter of minutes but now? As guilty as he felt he didn’t want you to stop. Your lips hovered over the area in his chest close to his shoulder and slowly left only the sensation of your warmth. 

 

Slowly you sat back up, you looked off to the ocean ahead. 

 

“I think that should do it, it won't magically heal you overnight… for now, it’ll make the pain more bearable and eventually speed up the healing process.” 

 

“I didn’t know sirens could heal like that.” 

 

“No one does.” You sighed out trying to play off your flusteredness. “Siren’s are naturally mistrustful and deceitful creatures, they don’t fall in love and they would only appear before humans when they needed to feed… it was never heard of for a siren to come to care about anyone or thing outside its pack, much less so fall in love... so legend has it that a siren’s kiss can heal because when they do kiss someone, someone they truly care for it’s an honest act of love and trust.” You gulped down the lump in your throat and pulled your tail up to your chest, your arms firmly wrapped around it. Your eyes refusing to look up at him, they only kept following the small waves that washed up upon the shore before his feet… for some reason, your face felt hot and you didn’t want to look up at him. 

 

“Y/N….” You felt his hand tenderly rest on the side of your shoulder. Very lightly he turned you to face him; his eyes studied yours and as he did the atmosphere shifted once more, there was tension a very familiar one you had come to discover by his side. His eyes flickered down to your lips and you mimicked his eyes. 

 

“W-We…. We should get going.” You spoke up breaking the silence on the small island. “Your friends are probably crazy worried about you.” You turned away from him scooting back down into the ocean water. “I know it’s probably freezing cold in there but if you hold on tightly I’ll get you back to the port’s docks before you have the chance to get pruney.”

 

 


	4. A Catch and Reel

 

The swim back to the ports was a quiet one, you made haste of finding a secluded and desolate area to drop off Yoosung on. It was far from the ports and the fire from the explosion continued though controlled, you could see from the distance as people had gathered nearby to watch what had happened. Dropping him off anywhere nearby would have been dangerous. You settled for the docks, the place the both of you had met, it’d been long abandoned and though a pretty mile away from where the port had been it would have to suffice.   
  
You settled him down onto the wet mossy rocks next to the dock, small drops of water dripped off him making little splashes back into the water as he sat up. He seated himself so that he was facing you, and rubbed his hand over his injured side in an attempt to keep him warm in his freezing state.   
  
“I- I… wish you a good voyage.” You stated, slowly pulling away from his side. The swim back to the mainland had been very quiet and after you had offered to swim him back to shore not many other words had been exchanged. Yes, he had tried to convince you to remain a few more minutes with him alone on that island but you had dismissed his requests and adamantly insisted on returning back to the mainland, thus giving him very little room to argue.

It was definitely painful to say goodbye to someone you had come to be so familiar with and close to, but what more could you do? He needed to be with his own and you, you had to be on your own, everything as it was meant to be.   
  
“Y/N, wait…” You stopped. “You’re leaving just like that, this is our goodbye?” He asked. “Please don’t go just yet.”   
  
“Yoosung… you’re leaving tomorrow and your friends are probably worried sick looking for you. I think it’s about time we finally part paths.”   
  
“This wasn’t exactly the goodbye I imagined… it just all still feels too sudden.” He explained. “Just allow me a few more minutes of your time, I know I’ve been trouble tonight but I just need… I want a few more minutes, that’s all.”

    
“Yoosung…” You sighed giving him a small nod. “You’re worth all the trouble in the world, but me saving you wasn’t any trouble at all. I do it as many times as you’d need me to. I’ll stay until you’re ready, to be honest, I’m not sure I’m quite ready to say goodbye either.” You admitted.

You scouted up taking a spot right beside him. Your tail swaying back and forth in the water.

“… So, what do you think is going to happen now? Your ship was blown to hell how are you guys supposed to set sail tomorrow?”

“Y/N… I don’t know, but that’s not what I want to talk about.”

“Then what do you want to talk about?” You asked.

“I… I just don’t want to think about not seeing you, when I still have you- have you here, with me.” He retracted nervously.

You took his hand in yours interlocking your fingers with his and looked up at him, there was a doleful glint in your eyes and it didn’t go unnoticed by Yoosung either, the truth was the both of you were suffering at the thought of separation. A small sigh left his lips and his heart urged him to say more.

“I’d miss you too much.” He added in a low-spirited tone, he returned your gesture gently tightening his grasp on your hand. There was a moment of silence and it was just you, him, the moon, the stars, the ocean and the sounds of it washing up on the shore and returning to itself with every current that touched the shore. He wanted to keep it that way. He didn’t want the moment to end. “You’ve become such an important person to me, Y/N.” His voice was barely above a whisper and you wanted nothing more than to come closer to him and console him.

You leaned into him resting your head on his shoulder as you looked out into the ocean; You loved your home more than anything, you were sure of that but you also didn’t want to part with this man…. He belonged to the land and you to the sea it was as simple as that. “You’ve become very important to me as well, Yoosung.” You whispered.

“I didn’t think I’d ever become so close with a stranger in such little time.” He confessed. “But you, you understand me, and you were always willing to listen to me… I’m sorry if I ever suffocated you with my laments, it’s just that ever since Rik-” He stopped and closed his eyes letting out a deep sigh as if pondering whether he should continue or not. “Rika, passed away there are so many things, I just couldn’t understand and everyone was so quick to move on from what happened, no one ever asked how things happened… they all just accepted it. Now it feels like she never even existed, all traces of her are gone… everything overnight just disappeared… Just like her.”

“Was Rika very important to you?” You could tell there was a great source of pain revolving this person in his life he didn’t have to say it, it was evident by the look in his eyes.

“I never told you about her did I?” He asked. “Rika was basically an older sister to me, she taught me so much and was with me through a lot. She was also V’s fiance, you remember I told you about V, right? Our leader. They were going to get married but before their wedding, they decided to take a quick trip to Europe, the night they were supposed to set back home the ship sunk… and Rika was never found. Shortly after that V became extremely absent to us and now he’s disappeared as well. Everyone claimed and keeps claiming she’s dead that there’s no way she could have survived especially if there was a storm like V claimed there was… but it can’t be that easy. I want to believe she’s still out there somewhere but… I guess that must sound crazy, it probably is… she was my mentor, my teacher, my sister… then she disappeared and my life felt like it lost meaning, you know?”

Honestly, you didn’t. You couldn’t remember ever having someone there for you, though sometimes like a missed smudge on a window you could make out faces that remained drill into your subconscious. You could only assume these were faces from your past and lamented not being able to remember your relation to them when you felt that familiar sense of deja vu fuzz over your brain after seeing them in your mind, but you could relate to his feeling of lack of purpose. Purpose, such a big word and a thing you never had in life. You existed but that was just it, you went from one place to another without stopping or turning back and had nothing and no one to tell you otherwise. Yes, you understood the emptiness he spoke of, the loneliness as well but the origin of those feelings arose from different places.

“Y/N, you make me feel alive again, you make me feel seen and heard, you give me hope and courage… I just don’t want to have to let go of you.” He took both your interlocked hands and brought it up close to his chest, wrapping his free hand so both of his hands held yours steadily. “You’ve become the most important person in the world to me; my friend, my confidant and my… “ He gulped down a breath cutting himself off. “You’ve shown me to see the world in a new way, you’ve brought back light into my life.”

You placed your free hand over his.

“Yoosung…”

“You don’t have to say anything.” He reassured. “I know it might be all too much and too soon. I just wanted to tell you all of this before I never got the chance again.”

There were so many things you wanted to say and get off your chest, but it was all senseless… he’d be gone the next day and anything you could say would serve no other purpose but make the situation between the both of you more difficult. Feeling like everything had been very well said by now, you slid off the top of the rock, sinking back into the ocean water. “Thank you for everything, Yoosung. For your friendship, kindness, and understanding. Take care of yourself.”

A breath caught in your throat as you looked at him one last time, taking in every detail and committing it to memory. When you were sure he no longer would say anything you turned towards the ocean, almost as if trying to prepare yourself for life as it once had been without him but now when you looked at it that life felt so distant and foreign…. Your hand was still holding onto the rocks he sat on and you steeled yourself to dive in and take off but as easy as it was also painful.

You glanced back up at Yoosung his eyes followed you, he looked completely broken-hearted. He didn’t deserve this, such a cold goodbye…. Yous hesitated but looked up at him, your eyes locked with his and you jumped up and into his arms tightly hugging him. He returned the tight embrace and suddenly it felt nearly impossible to desire release. The night was cold but all you could feel was his warmth, the world was alive with the sound of waves reaching the shore and insects singing their nightly songs yet all you heard was his heartbeat, the sky was full of twinkling stars but all you could see was him, and life gave you a lot to think about yet he was the only thing on your mind. Eyes closed, you could feel and hear his breathing that much better. Seconds or minutes, you were sure how much time had passed by but all you knew was that all the time in the world didn’t feel like enough time to allow you to end this moment.

Both of you began to slowly part as if sync. “I’m going to miss you so much.” You whispered once the both of you were face to face.

“Would it be too selfish to ask you to come with me?” He asked. You couldn’t tell whether he was being serious or trying to make the situation easier for both of you by joking but you knew the answer regardless.

You shook your head. “The ocean’s my home, Yoosung. It’s where I belong.”

He let out a small dejected laugh and you knew it was more forced than genuine. “I know. I’m going to miss you so much as well.”

You could observe each star in the sky one by one, each constellation or asterisms and you would still believe that Yoosung’s eyes were more beautiful than any jewel the sky had to offer. The both of you leaned into one another until your foreheads met, where there was nothing left to be said nothing was said. At a moment like this, both of you just wanted to prolong the inevitable, even if it was just for a second.

What was this feeling in your chest?

It was more than captivation, more than fascination and curiosity as it had once been. It was more than besottment or admiration…

He opened his mouth to say something but held back last minute his eyes only traced over the flesh of your lips quietly. Your noses were touching and you brought yourself closer to him as your eyes traced over his lips. There was just one last thing you wanted to do before leaving and had you been holding back before you wouldn’t now.

“Yoosung!” A man’s voice yelled out from a lot closer than you expected.

The both of you looked up and there was a flash of fire.

A gunshot echoed through the air and almost instantaneously there was a sharp bitting sensation at your tails side.

You cried out in pain, the sensation was agonizing. You couldn’t see anything but white in all your agonizing pain. You were stunned and although you could hear screams and footsteps approaching rather quickly, they were basically droned out by the ringing sound in your head. Yoosung was at your side in a minute and then gone the next. You heard his screams mix with multiple different ones and suddenly lost sense of which direction he was in.

You had to leave quickly, you didn’t know what had just happened but you knew you had to get out of there. You hadn’t registered exactly what had happened to you just yet, all you knew was that your tail was injured. Blindly you tried to sink back into the ocean, become invisible under the water when something fall over you and at the attempt to flee it tangled you up making escape impossible. You felt yourself being pulled out of the water, your heartbeat picked up, panic settled in… You thrashed and clawed at the sides of the source of your entrapment, you couldn’t help it. You tried floundering to flee but your tail was too hurt to actually put up any type of resistance.

You were crying out and shrieking when your hand caught something… a net. You were in a net. You clawed it.

You weren’t any closer to free yourself when you felt people approaching you. A pair of hands took one of your holding it down while another grabbed at the other, you could hear the people talking but couldn’t understand them over the beating of your pulse. With both hands restrained they were brought together forcefully as they were painfully bounded together,  

“What are you doing!? Let her go!” You could hear Yoosung cry out from a far.

“Wake up, don’t you see it!? She has bewitched under the power of her song!” Another voice replied.

“No! She wasn’t doing anything to me! Let her go, please!”

“Like hell we will, you would have been shark bait if we hadn’t gotten here sooner!” The same voice argued.

“Let go of me!” You could hear him struggling and at the sound of his desperate pleas panicked more.  

“Snap out of it, Yoosung! She has you under her spell! Wake up!” The other voice snapped.

“That’s not true! Let go of me you’re hurting her!” You heard him cry out again.

“That’s enough. There’s no use talking to him like this, he’s not going to listen to any sense. He’s too far gone, we’ll have to wait until the effects wear off.” A third voice announced.

“What are we gonna do with her?” One of the voices over you asked.

“Most think they’re either extinct or that just myths, I’m sure Puerto Azul  would pay a pretty penny for the first mermaid to appear in centuries.” A fourth voice offered.

“We have no use for their money…” The third voice spoke again. “She’s a danger to those at sea, and she’s threatened life as long as she continues out there she’ll threaten more lives.”

“Jumin, No! Please, tell Seven and Vanderwood to let her go!” Yoosung cried out.

“So what’re we gonna do?” The voice over you asked again.

“Get rid of her.” Jumin replied.

“Are you crazy!? Kill her? Do you know how much she could be worth?” One of the voices asked.

“Whatever she’s worth she’s not worth the trouble it’ll be to transport her to Puerto Azul. I don’t want to run the risk of endangering anyone’s life, especially now.”

“Easy for you to say Mr. Big and Powerful, you have a fortune that’ll last you a lifetime but some of us don’t have that luxury.”

“Enough Vanderwood.” Jumin Snapped. “We don’t even have a ship anymore to begin with, pray-tell where would you keep her?”

“Zen, let go of me! Seven, please let go of her!”

“What the hell’s gotten into you!?” Zen retorted you could clearly hear the man struggling to hold down Yoosung.

You let out a hellish cry clawing at your restrainer and trying to fight him off you in any way you could. You were already in pain but then that horrid and unbearable sensation began out of nowhere. You’d been out of the ocean long enough for the transformation to begin.

“Hey! Stop it!” The voice you believed Yoosung had referred to as Seven scolded, holding both your hands in a tighter grip.

It felt like your tail’s flesh was being melted off in searing fire. The pain was torturous and you couldn’t hold back your pained cries as you tried to struggle yourself free.

“Whatever you’re gonna do you better hurry she’s not easy to hold down.” Seven panicked trying to keep you restrained underneath him.

Another pained cry left your lips this one more of a shriek than a cry. Then you heard it, the cocking of a gun.

Everything happened so quick in the following few seconds,  it took you some time to understand it all but when you winced up you saw Yoosung standing between you and a loaded pistol.

“What are you doing Yoosung? Get out of the way.” The dark haired man commanded.

“If you want to kill her, then you’ll have to go through me first.” His hands were shaking at his sides but nothing else wavered, not his voice nor his stance or his conviction.

“He’s still under her spell. Someone move him out of the way.” Jumin repeated.

He pushed both the red-haired man and the taller older looking brunette off of you. His hands made haste of prying the net off of you. The redhead attempted to stop him but one glare in his direction was enough to hold him back.

“I’m not under any spell! If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here right now!” He retorted. With the net finally off he inspected you, his eyes were fixed on the bullet wound. He grimaced in pain at the sight of blood, but it wasn’t the blood that made him grimace it was your pain. “Hold still I’m going to try and stop the bleeding.”

You cried out. Your tail, you could feel it splitting into two.

“W-What’s going on?” He asked.

“L-Legs.” Was all you could utter under your circumstances.

And then, that’s all that was left of your tail, a pair of legs.

You sucked in a breath and gathered the courage to look at the nipping pain below. Red, dark sickly red at the side of your left leg… it pooled down and mixed with the sand into a nauseating texture. You wanted to cry at the sight, completely unaware of the stares gathered around you.

“Y-Y/N, it’s gonna be okay. You’re going to be okay. I just need to grab my medical kit and I promise you’ll be okay.” Yoosung reassured, he ran a hand through your hair trying to brush it to the side as he attempted to comfort you. “I need one of you to grab a medical kit or supplies, I can’t leave her like this.” He requested turning to face the men behind him.

“No, no, no wait.” Vanderwood began. “What do you mean if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here right now?”

“This isn’t the time, can’t you see she’ll bleed out if we don’t do something!” The blond cried out.

“You’re asking us to help you save this sea harpy and you don’t think we should know for what reason you’ve determined that she’s worth out trust and help, we just saw her seconds away from snatching you down into the depths. Why would we help you save her?”

“I-It’s not what it looked like, I swear I can explain-”

“Then do it.” Vanderwood edged on.

“It’s not the time!” Yoosung cried out.

“Yoosung, the faster you explain the faster we’ll know what’s going on be and be able to help you.”

The blond looked back between you and the group of men, he didn’t want to waste another second but your life was on the line and he’d need their help it’d be a bigger hindrance to continue to argue with them.

“I’ve been meeting her at the abandoned docks for the past month or so during our time here.” He looked back down at you. “I didn’t know she was a siren until this night, but she means no harm. She’d never hurt me. If she wanted to hurt me she would have when she found unconscious and drowning but instead she saved my life. When the explosion happened I was blown into the ocean and was being held down under water by some ropes that had tangled up on a rock… she pulled me out and healed this.” He showed them his injured shoulder. “Don’t you think if she wanted to kill me she would have then and not wait until the last minute and especially not in a place where she could most likely be spotted at. She took a risk bringing me back! Now, please help me save her!”

The group of me stared between themselves, none knowing how to approach the situation until Seven stepped up.

“We can’t get you your medical kit it blew up on the ship with all our other stuff but I’m sure we can find one at the villa Jumin’s rented for us.”

“Zen, can you rip off one of my sleeves?” Yoosung asked, the white-haired man went to his side and ripped the sleeve off and handing it to him. “How far is the villa?” He took the sleeve and gave you a quick warning as he tied the garment over the wound to stop the bleeding.

“A few miles.” Seven responded.

“No, I can’t wait that long. In the time one of you gets there, looks for it and then heads back she will have lost too much blood.”

“L-leave me.” You requested through gritted teeth,

“N-no. I can’t, you just saved my life, now it’s my turn… especially since you got hurt because of me.” He replied, trying to comfort you as best he could. “We have to take her Jumin. Please.”

The dark haired man looked at you, his eyes examined you up and down. He didn’t trust you but if you had saved Yoosung’s life then not only did he feel indebted to repay you as a means of evening the score but also guilt. He had shot at you without knowing your intentions and now you were hurt due to his brash actions he had believed to be quick thinking.

His eyes trailed back to Yoosung, he then nodded. “Fine but I don’t want her anywhere near Lucy, understood?”

Yoosung nodded and with that Jumin turned to Seven. “Help me bring the carriage closer and you two-” He continued, turning to Vanderwood and Zen. “Help Yoosung with the siren.”

You watched as the dark-haired man walked off with the redhead, only leaving their footprints in the sand.

“Can one of you lend me your coat?” Through strained effort, you turned your attention back to Yoosung as Zen offered him his coat. “Here, this’ll keep you warm in the cold. I promise you’re going to be okay.” He reassured.

The blood was still streaming down your leg but at a much slower rate when Vanderwood picked you up and began to carry you towards the carriage, Yoosung walked a few feet behind him with Zen’s aid. You remembered looking over Vanderwood ’s shoulder back at the ocean and that was the last you would see of it in a while…


End file.
